The present invention relates to cutting or grooming devices in general and, more particularly, to such grooming devices which are intended for cutting human hair that grows at regions of the head outside the scalp, especially the hair growing in the nostrils, the ears, and at the eyebrows, mustache and sideburns.
Experience has shown that, in addition to the hair growing at the scalp area of the human head, and the facial hair growth especially for adult males, additional hair may also grow in the nostrils, and/or in the ears and, obviously, at the area of the eyebrows, mustache and sideburns as well. Now, while a wide variety of electric shaving devices has been developed to deal with the problem of daily removal of the facial hair for those males who wish to have the clean-shaven look, no grooming device is currently available which would give satisfactory performance in the area of cutting hair growing from nostrils, ear channels, and adjacent areas. Also, there is not available on the market any grooming device of the above type which would also be able to trim the eyebrows, mustache and sideburns at a predetermined distance away from the head, to give the user a well-groomed look.
This, however, does not mean that no attempts have been previously made to come up with grooming devices of this or similar sort. So, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,987,818; 3,381,373; 3,524,253; 3,731,379; 3,829,966; and 3,925,888 disclose various constructions of cutting devices intended for use in the removal of hair from the nasal passages or ear channels. However, these devices have not been very successful in the marketplace, especially since they are one-purpose devices and can be easily damaged because of their rather fragile small-sized construction and lack of adequate protection for the most vulnerable parts thereof. On the other hand, the U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,336,160; 2,783,533; and 3,101,535 disclose trimming devices or attachments of various sorts, which can be used for trimming hair of a mustache or that of an eyebrow. However, a pronounced disadvantage of these arrangements is that the user has to estimate the distance at which this arrangement cuts the hair away from the skin, which may lead to misjudgement and thus to removal of too much of the hair.